john blackstone is at jpl in pasadena, california. john, good morning. >> reporter: good morning, jeff. i think we can safely say this morning that the jet propulsion lab is the happiest place on earth. because the "curiosity" over, the car-sized rover, this is just a model, the real thing is safely on the surface of mars. it's such a complex landing that some observers gave the chances of success at no better than 50/50. nobody had ever done anything like this before. and it was all happening 154 million miles away. >> we're just under six minutes to entry. >> in mission control, the tension was obvious as the spacecraft approached mars to begin what was called seven minutes of terror. but with each successful stage of the entry, confidence grew. >> parachute deploy. [ applause ] >> nothing was certain, however, until "curiosity" was confirmed to have landed safely on martian soil. >> touchdown confirmed we are safe on mars. [ cheering ] >> as the celebration began, mission control seemed to lose control. many involved had been worki